Rugged Maniac NJ

Today I conquered Rugged Maniac for the second time! I am feeling pretty badass this year, I must say! Last year, I went alone, and I completed all of the obstacles, but I needed a LOT of help.
This year, I signed up with a team. A local gym that I sometimes attend formed it. I arrived very early, though, and my team was not there yet!
There were a lot of giveaway tents! I was surprised at the amount of swag we got!

Besides my awesome V Neck tee, there was Biscoff (3 jars, holy heck!) and they gave us free Rugged Maniac stickers, Bear Naked gave away free resealable packages of granola with a carabiner on it (we chose chocolate and fruit&nut), Kind Bar was also there, and we got 2 Kind bars and some cute Kind decals, and then Bear Naked had a guy handing out packets of granola so we got more! There were also samples of protein shakes that were yummy and had no yucky aftertaste, called Core Power.

After we got all the swag, we walked over to look at the course. My wave was still 40 minutes away, and whole we ere standing there, a girl came over and asked if I would be her buddy. She was at an earlier wave than mine, but I thought it would be fun, so we went off together to join her wave. Her name is Melanie and she was the perfect partner!

You had to jump the wall just to start! Sheesh! We talked a bit, and then we were off! Woohoo! First you ran under the final obstacle, nothing like seeing the finishers as you start!

The first obstacle is the dirt bike track. It was a lot of hills, a little mud, a lot of sun. We ran the whole thing, and kept up with our group....for the time being. We were not in any rush, just plugging along.

The map says that balance beams were next, but they actually came later. They were thin, slippery from mud, and kinda scary. I swayed a few times, but stayed on for the duration, and so did Melanie! Woot! I am going to try and go by the map, even if they are out of order, so tat I don't forget anything! I couldn't get the map to show here though, sorry!

Next was the forest run. Pretty easy for the most part, and very shady. A few obstacles in there were blocked off. Nooooo problem. There were three 4 foot walls to get over, and some tires...on the ground and swinging at you at the same time. They were also muddy. We took our time!

When you came out of the woods, it was the water stop. Very nice, but then you had to run up some steep muddy hills. Not so nice!

On to the slide! woot! You climb up easily 8 feet of ladder to get to the top and the slide is reallyreally fast! Definitely a favorite!

we are the last two on the right!

my face! I got all kinds of mud and water in my face!

wading in the slide pool

it got real muddy afterwards, lots of slipping and sliding!

There was an obstacle called Bounding Maniac. It was basically 4 big posts, spread apart. These scared me the last time, because I have short legs! The helpers helped me across though, and I only leaned for the first leap, I made it the rest of the way alone!!
There were two army crawls under barbed wire. The first was just before the slide, and you could totally crawl on hands and knees. The second was in 6 inches of thick soupy mud, and you totally had to military crawl under this one. It was exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. I LOVED it! We came out totally covered, and totally cooled off! It didn't last long though, because then we had to run up some hills, which was not fun or cool!
Crawling tunnels. I love these, but Melanie was nervous. We went in side by side. First, you slid down one tunnel into a pool of water. After that, you crawled through the water, under barbed wire, to the second tunnel, which you crawled up. There was rope to help you, which was good, since you could not really use your feet to push you, it was all upper body!
At the next set of hills, they gave you a tire to carry. The hubs saw us here, so we got some pics! The tire was heavy, and after hamming it up for the camera, I approached the sawhorses. Hmmmmm.... carrying a tire over these things? UGH! I used my noggin, and dropped the tire under each sawhorse, used it as a leg up, and then carried it to the next one. The volunteer here was yelling things like: Screw McDonald's, throw your spare tire here! He was pretty funny, lol.

flexing for the camera!

The floating barriers were fun! There was a pool of water about waist deep and you had to climb over or swim under pipes that were floating in the water. I went over them, you were NOT catching me under that water with all those crazy people over me! Yikes!

The wall climb was probably the hardest obstacle. A lot of people were just climbing the hill next to it, and skipping it. We probably waited 20 minutes for our turn, and then finally we were up! It was a wall, not super steep, but super high. About halfway up was a piece of wood to get your footing before you had to finish! Luckily there was also a rope, and I noticed right away that the first knot was hard to reach. Once I had the knot, it wasn't so bad. I got to the halfway point with little trouble, took a breath and then just charged up the rest of the way. A really nicer guy grabbed my hand and pulled me up the rest of the way. Sweet! Melanie got up almost as fast, she had a little more trouble at the top, but I think the mud played a huge part there!

I must pause at this point and thank the very hot Marine that was there for a lot of the first half of this race! He was super motivating, easy on the eyes, and so much fun! He helped us here and there with little things, and was there when we climbed the wall. We lost him there, however, and picked up a large group of twenty-something goofballs who called themselves the Wolfpack. They were so goofy and fun, and we stayed with them until the end.

We ran through the mud hills, and came upon the 2 large barricades. Oh.My.Heck. The wolfpack saved our butts here! There were 2 foothold bars, but they were far apart, and the wall was easily 8 feet high. The boys gave us a leg up, and really helped us get over these walls! This is where I hurt my hand though. I sliced the thumb pad really good, and kept mud packed on it so I wouldn't bleed all over the place! UGH!

see my boo-boo? Ouchie!

After the barricades, were the mud jumps! You slid into a pool of water, waded across, up a slimy muddy hill....to these little ravines! You had the leap over them, but it was so slidey, and some were too wide, so I just plunked into the ravines, and let someone help me up the other side! My hand was bleeding the worst here, and I souped it up with mud and moved on!
After the mud jumps was the mud tunnel. It is completely boarded over, and it bends and turns, and there is about three inches of water, and lots of soupy mud. YUM! This was the hardest part for Melanie, but she got through like a trooper, and I just kept talking about the tunnel so there would be no surprises!
SUNSHINE!
We could see the finish, and all of the squeaky clean starters, and.....
FIRE!!!!!!!! 
This is my favorite part! I love the fire. Looking back, I thought there was only one fire pit, but this year there were four! Woohoo!

I had a little too much fun here!

Really tired now, and as we approach the final obstacle.....another wall! This one was not as high though!

climbing up!

last leg up! Yikes it was tough!

wooohoooo

now to get back down the other side!

halfway there!

Done!

do i look muddy?

Finished! Peroxide on the cut, and ready to go!

 Whew! Are you still with me? That was so much fun, and I am glad to say that, while the obstacles were definitely tougher this year, I found them to be a little easier to overcome! Next year will be even better!

Have you done a mud run? Which one?